Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, Dec. 12, 1968 Griffin Daily News
Tex Ritter On Hijack
4 Like My Westerns,
But No Posse’
By MATTHEW T. KENNY
MIAMI (UPI)—“It was very
similar to my westerns, but
there was no posse,”
What cowboy actor-entertai
ner Tex Ritter was saying late
Wednesday night, in effect, was
that the year’s 20th air
h.jacking earlier in the day
resembled a bad Hollywood
script.
Ritter was among the 38
persons aboard the St. Louis-to-
Miami Trans World Airlines jet
that was forced by a Negro
gunman to fly to Cuba.
The principal characters in
the drama—the hijacker and a
female companion—were atten
tion getters even before the
actual hijacking. The man wore
a black beret, an orange sports
shirt and dark slacks. His
companion had an Afro hairdo,
wore loop earrings, appeared
six-months pregnant and car
ried a big red teddy bear.
The commandeering of the
Boeing 727 Airliner was carried
out in such an orderly fashion
that many of the passengers
were unaware of the incident
until the pilot, Capt. Dennis L.
Maloney, announced over a
loudspeaker: "There’s a man in
the cockpit with a gun wanting
to go to Havana and we’re
going to take him.”
The procedure for the
takeover (the 11th of 1968
involving an airliner) has been
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pretty well established by now,
and chief stewardess Susan
Brant handled it routinely.
"This man approached me
with a gun and told me to take
him to the cockpit,” she said.
"I said, ‘follow me,’ and we
walked to the cockpit.”
Once in the cockpit, the
guman told Maloney: “I want
to go to Havana. If you take
me, nobody will get hurt.
“We shall go to Havana,”
replied Maloney.
That was about 20 minutes af
ter takeoff from Nashville,
Tenn., and Maloney told the air
port of his change in flight
plans.
Professional golfer Mason Ru
dolph of Clarksville, Tenn., said
he had been too engrossed in a
book, “The Amazing Results of
Positive Thinking,” to notice
the hijacking.
Until about late summer, the
Air Force had provided a posse
of sorts for the dramas —
scrambling jets from Home
stead AFB, Fla., to pursue the
hijacked airliners until they en
tered Cuban air space. But
these fruitless chases have been
discontinued.
The House Inter-American Af
fairs subcommittee only Tues
day had issued a report stating
there was no ready answer to
stopping the hijackings and
hoping that Cuba would enter
3
into a treaty to extradite hi
jackers to the United States.
Ritter agreed that gov
ernmental action was the only
way to stop the incidents.
“This government has to
demand the culprit from the
Cuban government and then
hand out some pretty stiff sen
tences—that’s the only way this
can be stopped,” said Ritter,
who was en route to appear
ances in the Florida Keys from
his Nashville home.
The entertainer said the pas
sengers were treated courteous
ly by the Cubans, and “you had
the impression they were milk
ing it for all it was worth, to
give the impression they were
nice people.”
Miss Brant said an official at
the Havana airport “gave me
the impression that the Cubans
were tired of all this.”
Hijack
Neighbors
Golfer Mason Rudolph who
was aboard the hijajcked plane
Wednesday is the nephew of
John Mason, 727 Clay street of
Griffin.
Mr. and Mrs. Mason make
their home across the street
from Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Willi
ams. Mr. Williams was aboard
a plane last week that was hi
jajcked to Cuba.
tt★ ★ ★
Man Charged With
Non-Taxed Smokes
DALTON, Ga. (UPI) — A
Dalton man has been released
on bond after his arrest on
charges of possession and trans
portation of 1,200 package of
non-tax paid contraband cigar
ettes.
Daniel Oscar Robinson was
arrested Wednesday after state
revenue agents, aided by an
undercover tipster, stopped his
car in Whitfield County about
eight miles north of Dalton.
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Grant’s
Re-Opened
Georgia Power Rate
Increase Approved
FOR ART’S SAKE, Patty
Duke hits the water during
filming of an attempted sui
cide for an upcoming movie.
Patty, who does not swim,
insisted on doing the scene
herself rather than use a
stunt girl. For her protec
tion, a well-cushioned net
was submerged in the
water.
Officials cut a ribbon this morning at the grand opening of the W. T. Grant store
on East Solomon street. Present for the ribbon cutting ceremony were (1-r) Bill
Pridgen, W. D. Bazemore, M. McDonald, store manager Don Pitts, K. Swain,
Mayor O. M. Snider, Jr., County Commissioner Zack Wilson, Assistant City Man
ager Homer Davis and Gene Cook. The st ore has been remodeled following a fire.
ATLANTA (UPI)— Georgians
will be paying 19 cents per
household more each month on
their utility bills, under a new
ly - approved rate increase
granted the Georgia Power
Company.
The two per cent rate hike—
the first for the company in 16
years — was approved Wednes
day by the Georgia Public Ser
vice Commission.
The increase will affect resi
dential, industrial and munici
pal users of electric power.
But, exempted from the in
crease are certain wholesale
rates for resale to other power
companies.
“The company has shown
that increases in cost of ser-
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vice, including increased fi
nancing costs and operating
costs, as well as increases in
federal income taxes, have de
pressed its earnings at present
rates to such an extent that an
upward adjustment of those
rates is required,” the PSC
said.
At the same time, the com
mission denied the company’s
petition for a tax rider to in
crease or decrease rates as
federal income tax fluctuates.
The commission said it based
its decision affirming the in
crease on the need of the com
pany to spend more than
$500,000 over the next three
years in new construction, and
on increases in operating costs.
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TV People Face
Charges For
Filming Fire
LEESBURG, Ga. (UPI) —A
committal hearing has been set
for Dec. 20 for three Albany
newsmen, arrested on trespass
ing and larceny charges after
filming a burning house.
A. H. Brooks brought the
charges Wednesday against
Dawson Mathis, news director
of WALB-TV, and two other
news staffers, Sam Pruitt and
Sharon Langerquist. The three
were released on SIOO bond
each.
Brooks claimed they were
trespassing by filming the burn
ing house on his property, and
charged larceny on grounds the
film belong to him because it
was shot on his property. He
said it was used illegally with
out his permission.
Mathis declined comment on
the charges.
Brooks said that Pruitt and
Miss Lagerqulst refused to
leave his property the night the
house burned and that the two,
accompanied by Mathis, re
turned without permission the
next morning to film the ruins
of the structure.